Power People
Many of this past year’s team events were focused on helping our organization maximize engagement in our new hybrid workplace model.
At the same time, we enjoyed opportunities to support our partners and the local community through in-person events like college campus visits and days helping out at the Guelph Food Bank.
As always, these team events help energize our workplace culture and invigorate our work in higher education.
Living Wage Certification
We are the Champions!
In early 2023, OCAS was awarded ‘Champion Level’ certification from the Ontario Living Wage Network, a group that consists of employers, employees, non-profits, researchers, and proponents of reasonable work standards for all Ontario workers. OCAS secured the Champion level by committing to paying all full- and part-time employees a living wage.
A living wage is the hourly wage a worker requires to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community. Unlike the minimum wage, it reflects what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living.
As such, the living wage varies from place to place – for example, it’s $23.15 per hour in the Greater Toronto Area, just over $18 in London, and $19.95 in Guelph, where OCAS’ head office is located.
OCAS’ certification at the Champion level is a sign of our commitment to supporting the mental and physical well-being of all our employees.
Waterloo Area Top Employer Award
In 2022, OCAS secured its eighth-straight Waterloo Area Top Employers Award!
A branch of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, since 2006 the Waterloo Area Top Employers competition has given organizations a platform to demonstrate what makes them a great place to work.
How OCAS Won
Every year, employers fill out an application outlining why they’re an outstanding employer. Each applicant is ranked and selected based on the following eight criteria:
- Physical workplace
- Work atmosphere and social activities
- Health, finance, and family benefits
- Vacation and time off
- Employee communications
- Performance management
- Training and development
- Community involvement
Based on their performance in these different categories, exceptional organizations are presented with the Top Employers Award.
Employee Recognition Platform
To help our employees quickly and easily recognize the efforts of their colleagues, OCAS recently unveiled a new and highly interactive employee recognition platform.
The digital platform resembles popular workplace instant messaging programs and addresses several requests brought up by employees in last fall’s Hybrid Work Challenge, hosted by our Innovation team. After many employees used the challenge to ask for more ways to recognize their colleagues, a team was formed to find a tool that could help us do this more effectively.
The result is PROPS, a digital recognition platform that enables OCAS employees to:
- Celebrate colleague accomplishments that all employees can see in real-time
- Accrue points that can be exchanged for rewards and experiences
- Receive points for completing essential activities, like employee surveys or training
- Acknowledge and celebrate their colleagues’ birthdays and work anniversaries
We’ve just started using the platform but already it’s already helping us evolve our ‘connected’ workplace culture and reward individuals in ways that are meaningful to them.
Team Events
As in previous years, in 2022-23 we got together to celebrate our victories and build cohesion. And for the first time since 2019, many of these events – from helping out at the Guelph Food Bank to visiting the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture – were held in person.
Hybrid Work Challenge
The Hybrid Work Challenge was a week of half-day culture-building events – held in early November 2022 – designed to help OCAS craft a first-class hybrid work experience. Hosted by our Innovation team, the associated events gave each employee a chance to share their perspectives, needs, and ideas on what a premier hybrid work setting looks like and how we might go about building one together.
The challenge involved a mix of lunch-time social gatherings, facilitated conversations, brainstorming, group work, and playful prototyping. Throughout, people got to work together to pitch and explore potential initiatives, policies, and ideas that they feel would support them in their in-office and remote work.
What Employees Want
What Employees Want
We learned that OCAS employees desire opportunities for:
- Collaboratively identifying our organization’s core values
- Learning more about the college system and how we can support our partners
- Mentorship between senior and junior employees
- Empowering teams to make decisions that impact the direction of our organization
- Identifying charities to support
- Creating an office environment that brings out the best in our employees
Results
In the months since the challenge, our Innovation and Employee Success teams have collaborated with OCAS leadership to launch (and in some cases, complete) several initiatives focused on:
- Devising value and purpose statements for our organization
- Adopting a new, highly interactive employee recognition platform
- Introducing micro-mentorship opportunities
- Coordinating volunteering experiences in the local community
- Building a team of employees to help inform the evolution of our office space
- Creating a communal cookbook with quarterly potlucks and proceeds supporting charities
Along with the Strategic Plan, the Hybrid Work Challenge was a catalyst in the evolution of OCAS’ values and plans for maintaining cohesion in a hybrid work environment. We’re excited to continue our momentum in these areas in 2023-24!
Guelph Food Bank
Every holiday season, OCAS takes time to give back to the Guelph community through donations to organizations like the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington, Women in Crisis Shelters of Guelph and Wellington County (through Emma’s Toy Drive), and the Guelph Humane Society.
This past year we also enjoyed an in-person event at the Guelph Food Bank (GFB), where two OCAS groups volunteered to help the GFB manage their holiday rush of donations.
On December 21 and 22, 2022, OCAS employees sorted, packed, unpacked, and organized their way through the Guelph Food Bank warehouse. We helped move food, toys, diapers, and other items to be given to families and shelters for the holidays.
In addition to our volunteer work and as part of a longstanding OCAS tradition, we were also able to support the GFB through a corporate donation and a food drive, with over 170 meals donated.
We couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished together. The sense of community and teamwork resonating throughout the GFB warehouse on those two days in December perfectly embodied the meaning of the holidays, as well as working at OCAS.
Niagara Parks
OCAS and Niagara Parks
OCAS and Niagara Parks
Niagara Parks, as it’s commonly called, has worked with OCAS since 2020, when we began processing their applications and transcripts. This trip was a unique way to show our support for the school's vision and mission, which is to "provide an unprecedented experiential learning environment in horticulture to foster self-reliance and collegiality in developing horticultural leaders."
Upon arriving, the OCAS teams were taken around the school grounds, where staff highlighted some of the more unique plant life, including trees on the property that date back hundreds of years.
Next, the teams were given the opportunity to explore the Butterfly Conservatory, one of the largest in North America. There, they were able to see a variety of exotic insects and learn how Niagara Parks keeps track of their many fluttering tenants by microchipping each one as they come, in pupae form, to live at the conservatory.
Our teams loved their experience and would recommend a visit to the Niagara Parks campus to anyone, either as part of a team-building exercise or with their families.
Summer Social
On Monday, June 13, 2022, OCAS got together – both virtually and in person – to celebrate all the amazing work we’ve done over the past year at the OCAS Summer Social.
The Summer Social started with a look back at what we accomplished during our 2022 fiscal year, highlighting achievements – like the launching of OCAS Verify and three new client websites – as well as being granted our first-ever patent for the International Application Service (IAS). We celebrated our wins, said goodbye to our retirees, and talked about what’s in store for the year ahead.
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Summer Social attendees enjoyed amazing local food trucks, including those from:
- The Hemlock Barn
- Kono Pizza
- The Funnel Cloud
In-person attendees also had the chance to play a variety of games at the social, like cornhole, ladder ball, and Yard-zee. Meanwhile, remote workers enjoyed a variety of online board games hosted by Rob LeGood, our Director, Software Solutions.
Service Awards
At OCAS, we like to celebrate when employees reach milestones of five, 10, 15, and 20 years with the organization. It’s a big part of our workplace culture and a way to highlight our employees’ efforts to support higher education.
2022 Service Award Recipients:
- Janine Imada, Software DeveloperÂ
- Uzma Syed, Contact Centre Associate
- Dennis Giesbrecht, Quality Analyst
- Ben Harper, Solutions Architect
Roles held at OCAS: I started off as a Client Support Specialist and spent many years in that role. In 2015, I moved into the Tier 1 Supervisor role, then I spent time in document processing, before moving into the Tier 2 Supervisor role. I moved into the manager’s role around 2018.
Key responsibilities: With a large team, I spend a lot of my week connecting with people. I also spend time meeting with various other departments at OCAS, such as the domestic and international Product Management teams; Brand, Marketing, and Communications; Partner Success Office, and IT Services. And I spend a lot of time answering calls and emails from college or high school partners who reach out to me directly because of our long-running relationships.
Essential skills: Patience, good listening skills, and the ability to stay calm in stressful situations.
Biggest challenge: The biggest challenge I faced was through the pandemic. We were a completely in-person Contact Centre culture, then overnight we became a remote workforce. That was extremely challenging. It certainly pushed my boundaries but it was an experience I’ll never forget.
Favourite project: Definitely the onboarding of the Tier 1 colleges and the implementation of our new phone system, all at the same time. It was a challenge to get four new colleges onboarded to Tier 1 so quickly – while dealing with the pandemic and a new remote workforce – but we managed the storm and learned a lot from that experience.
Favourite part of the job: Connecting with people. I enjoy working with many different OCAS departments and sharing my knowledge and insights. I also love hearing stories about how we helped an applicant in the first part of their college journey.
Favourite hobbies: I’m a big pet lover, perhaps from growing up on a farm, so my husband and I have two dogs. I also enjoy reading, watching hockey, and spending time with family and friends.
Roles held at OCAS: I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to learn and grow with OCAS in the roles of business analyst, quality assurance officer, and project analyst. In 2016, the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) team was created and since then I’ve held the role of Governance Analyst.
Key responsibilities: In the role of Governance Analyst, my responsibilities include maintaining OCAS’ regulatory compliance program, drafting and reviewing contracts, and assisting with the preparation of information for critical OCAS meetings, including those for our Audit Committee and Board of Directors.
Essential skills: Being detail-oriented has been very important in all my roles, but especially the one I hold now. I’m constantly thinking of how our organization’s decisions impact the life of an applicant, often over the long term, so it’s vital that we take care in everything we do.
Biggest challenge: So much has changed over the years. Being able to adapt to that change has been a challenge and opportunity.
Favourite project: I’m fortunate to have worked on many projects during my career but I would have to say OCAS – as an organization – is the project I’m most proud of. Contributing to the success of OCAS over the years and helping so many applicants take that initial step of applying to college has been hugely fulfilling.
Favourite part of the job: I love that the work we do here can in some small way have an impact on someone’s life. Behind every application is a person who has a family. You’re touching that person’s life, so you need to do everything you can to make sure that person can start their post-secondary journey on the right foot.
Favourite hobbies: I enjoy spending time with my family, especially my great-nieces and great-nephews. They are a blessing and a great joy. I also enjoy reading, watching old movies, and taking daily walks.
Retirements
Vivienne Corvinelli
For more than 20 years, Vivienne served as a Contact Centre Associate at OCAS, helping learners find their way into the college system by answering their emails and phone calls. Given her many years with the organization, it’s no surprise that Vivienne was known for her remarkable efficiency and delivering clear and concise support to students and applicants. Known as the backbone of the wider Contact Centre team, she served as a mentor to the many associates who have come to work in this crucial OCAS department over the past two decades.
Since she retired in 2022, Vivienne has enjoyed spending more time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, as well as going for leisurely walks with her dog.
Babies
Congratulations to the OCAS team members who welcomed little ones into the world last year!
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